Inside Stock Car World Magazine | Page 28

stayed green. The running order after lap 1 was Keijzer, Davidson, Fairhurst, Harris and Castell. On lap 2 Harris moved past Fairhurst and set about catching Davidson. By lap 5 Harris had caught and passed Davidson to move up into second place and start his chase after Keijzer. Fairhurst was down in 5th place behind Castell and Danny Wainman was running in 6th. On lap 7, Danny Wainman was up to 4th and Fairhurst regained 5th from Castell. On lap 14, the yellow flags flew for a car in turn 2 and the pack bunched back up, Keijzers commanding lead had gone in an instant. The order on the restart was Keijzer, Harris, Davidson, Fairhurst, Castell, D Wainman, F Wainman, Wobbes and Robinson who had started near the back of the grid. Harris was ready for the restart and knew that this was his best chance to take over the lead from Keijzer. Harris sat on Keijzer’s rear bumper for two laps before making his move on turn 3 pushing Keijzer out wide but also going wide himself. At the same time, Fairhurst moved past Davidson on the same bend . Down into turn 1, it was a drag race between Fairhurst and Keijzer for the lead with Fairhurst taking the lead off turn 2. Fairhurst led the race for the length of the back straight before Keijzer took a lunge at his rear bumper sending both cars out wide towards the fence. Harris seized the opportunity and drove up the inside and nerfed Keijzer back out towards the fence 28 on the exit of the corner. Fairhurst recovered and drove up the inside of Keijzer but Castell had also got a good run off turn 4 and as they approached turn 1, they were three abreast fighting for the same bit of track. Castell held his line and Keijzer turned in on Fairhurst which sent both the Fairhurst and Keijzer machines into a spin into the fence as they tangled together. Keijzer rejoined a lap down and Fairhurst retired to the centre green. Harris now had a commanding lead of the race with Castell running in second and trying to close down the gap. Danny Wainman was now in 3rd with Davidson 4th and Robinson 5th. Over the next few laps, Danny dropped back behind Davidson and Robinson but fought back had a good battle with them to reclaim 3rd place. Then, cruelly, with about 4 laps left to run, his engine started to overheat and he dropped out of the race with a massive engine failure that left a hole in the side of his block. Tom Harris maintained his lead and took the chequered flag beating Gary Castell by about 10 car lengths. Lee Robinson came home in 3rd place to complete the podium, driving his old car that he had sold last year. His new Dutch team owner had hired the car back for Lee to race for the weekend. Johan Catsburg finished 4th and Frankie Wainman came home with 5th. Tom’s primary concern after finishing the 30 lap race was to cool down his engine which must have been on the limit for temperature and he frantically waved to the drivers on the infield who ran to his aid with watering cans to cool down the radiator. Once the car’s temperature was out of danger, he climbed from the car and stood on his roof and punched the air in celebration. When he jumped down, he lost his balance due to heat exhaustion and fell to the floor but was soon picked back up by Ivan Pritchard who gave him a big hug to celebrate his win. Most of the other drivers, particularly the UK drivers also gave him a big hug but the most emotional hug was sa